South Korea to Invest in Aircraft Development and Production

Friday, Jan 02, 2009

The Korea Times reports that the South Korean government awarded Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) a contract to begin converting the T-50 trainer into a light attack aircraft. The contract is worth about $31 million U.S. The T-50 trainer is a joint development with Lockheed Martin. The new FA-50 aircraft will replace aging light U.S. aircraft in the Korean inventory.

Development is to be complete and production started in five years. The T-50 is an advanced trainer that is the first high performance aircraft to be developed and produced in Korea. The FA-50 was always planned but there had been issues with technology transfer and integration of a radar system.

At one point the Korean government had desired the use of an English radar but this fell afoul of the U.S. laws about mixing technology from different nations in a system that was developed by a U.S. country. An Israeli radar has been selected that most likely is based on U.S. technology and thus does not cause any issues.

If Korea can get this program off the ground it will be a major step forward for their indigenous arms industry as this high performance aircraft capability is a complex and expensive industry to set up.

Matthew Potter works supporting US Army aviation programs. He holds degrees in history as well as studying at the Defense Acquisition University. He has written for Seeking Alpha and at his own website, Defense Procurement News.